Firstly, let's talk about the story of Gurren Lagann. It is a coming of age story, but more than anythinh, it is also a story about human progress and evolution. The show goes out of its way to constantly reinforce the idea that moving forward and denying the status quo is the only way to progress. This is not only shown through the huge amount of absurd motivational quotes or characters constantly pointing towards the sky, but also through the heavy use of the spiral symbol, which represents the constant need to improve and the spinning of a drill that can only move forward. And the characters follow this philosophy all the way through, even though they might have hated it at some point. Whenever a character deviates from it, they need to be "woke up" by another character saying the famous line "Let's see you grit those teeth!" followed by a punch to the face, and this technique is always successful. Even the concept itself supports these ideas: the main character pilots a robot that LITERALLY runs on fighting spirit (a.k.a "spiral energy"), and nobody questions or tries to explain it, because the show is fully aware of how ridiculous it is.
Another famous quote is "Deny common sense to make the impossible possible." Many people think this is a stupid quote and it doesn't make any sense, but it serves 2 purposes. The first is to remind the audience that anything is possible in this universe and the show is fully aware of that. The second is to remind the characters to always stay true to the nature of the show. This is why, whenever faced with a harsh situation, they will never run away and they will never make the obvious decision. Instead, they will always come up with the most bold and unexpected move, usually involving charging head-fisrt into the enemy, even when the more logical decision would be to retreat. However, these decisions can sometimes lead to the death of an important character, which gives a feeling of consequence and makes the stakes feel more real.
Speaking of death, i also like how this aspect is portrayed. The death of a character has a real impact on the others and always serves a purpose: either to advance the story or to affect the development of certain characters. The message behind this is that victory cannot be achieved without sacrifice and that you need to honor the sacrifices of your fellow men and keep moving forward for their sake.
Regarding the fights, they feel very epic, ridiculous and over the top and they usually end with a flashy finishing move. They perfectly fall in line with the message that Gurren Lagann is trying to send. And as to express and exagerrate the feeling of progress, the villains not only get stronger, but also bigger. This way, the entirety of the show becomes a build-up to an epc climax of unbelievable proportions, which in turn leads to a very satisfying pay-off at the end of the series.
Now let's talk about the characters of Gurren Lagann. The main character, Simon, seems like a typical Shinji Ikari in the beginning, lacking confidence and motivation. On the other side of the spectrum there is Kamina, pobably the most inspirational dude in the history of anime and my personal favorite character from the show. He is a hot headed guy that constantly denies the status quo and doesn't take sh*t from anybody. He is a big brother figure for Simon, but more importantly he is the embodiment of everything that Gurren Lagann stands for. Then there is Yoko, whom many people dismiss as pure fanservice material, but the message that is being conveyed here is that no matter gow big her breasts are, her personality and purpose to the show will never be limited by them. She is a strong female lead that can hold her own, not to mention a true bad-ass in some moments. The supporting cast is very colorful and funny as well, no characters feel out of place, they all serve a certain purpose.
The dynamic between Simon and Kamina is what i find truly fascinating. Kamina constantly pushes Simon's development by urging him to take action and believe in himself, while Simon holds Kamina back from being too reckless. And while Kamina might sometimes disagree with Simon's decisions, he is never mad at him, because he understands his feelings and the importance of keepng a cool head in battle. This balance is necessary for Team Gurren to advance.
Just as much as the characters, the animation is full of style and personality. At first i wasn't fond of the simplistic art style, but then it grew on me and i understood that it actually made the robots feel more unreal and flexible. I also like the use of color in this anme. Each character has their own defining colors and every landscape feels different, from the red tones of the wasteland to the deep blue nuances of outer space. The character and cosume designs are unique and easy to identify, and the effort put into each frame of animation is very apparent (except for episode 4, but we don't talk about episode 4).
The soundtack is, as everything else, awesome. the music fits well with each scene and gives an overall feeling of epicness and adventure. One track in particular, commonly known as Row Row fight the power, is a beautiful blend of opera and rap that not only feels pumping and energetic, but also soothing and calming at the same time. It reinforces the idea that you need to balance a calm mind with the willingness to act and that victory cannot be achieved without sacrifice. As you can see, everything blendsin quite well.
As for enjoyment, what else could i say? There is never a dull moment in this anime and even the occasional filler episode is entertaining, because by that time you already care for these characters so much that you just want to see them relax for a bit instead of fighting an ever more powerful villain. And because of the ever increasing scale of the fights, the stakes feel huge and the pay-off is even bigger.
When i hear the phrase "Turn your brain off" i think of an anme that has no deeper meaning, an anime with lots of plotholes and in which characters make stupid decisions that make no sense in that certain context. Gurren Lagann has no such problems. EVERYTHING makes sense in Gurren Lagann BECAUSE it happens in Gurren Lagann. The reality of this show has it own set of rules and logic, the major rules being that everything is possible and only the most unconventional option is acceptable. And the show never forgets its nature and philosophy. Everything fits in perfectly and serves the purpose of expressing the same idea, and this is what i truly consider brilliant execution. It doesn't matter how deep the themes and ideas of a story are. If the way they are presented is uninteresting and the execution is poor, i will never be able to care about them.
What i hope you'll get out of this review is that the next time you critique Gurren Lagann for its nonsensical action and lack of deeper themes, you can actually understand why the show is that way and why it makes perfect sense for it to be that way. So don't turn your brain off when watching Gurren Lagann, turn it on to the max so that you can truly appreciate this beautiful masterpiece.
